


And A Light To Guide Me Home

by kelex



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: Holiday, M/M, None - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 07:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,682
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/795494
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kelex/pseuds/kelex
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Joel and Megan marry, Jim starts to think about his own life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And A Light To Guide Me Home

Joel and Megan's wedding had surprised everyone, including Jim. He would have laid money that it would have been their slow-simmering captain that caught the eye of the firecracker from Down Under, but in the end it had been soft spoken Joel Taggart that had stolen her heart. They had wanted a December wedding, and so they'd planned one, three weeks before Christmas. 

Megan--being the offbeat and inventive person that she was--had presented Joel with the idea of turning their reception into a Christmas party for their closest friends and after a bit of persuasion, he'd agreed--to no one's surprise. And the guest list for the reception turned out to be surprisingly small, consisting only of Blair, Jim, Rhonda, Simon and Daryl, Henry Brown, and Brian Rafe, along with a couple of Joel's former Bomb Squad buddies. 

Both Joel and Megan had wanted Blair to participate in their half of the wedding; Joel wanted Blair as his best man, Megan, for Blair to give her away. Ever the diplomat, Blair had suggested that he stand up for Joel, and have Simon give her away, a duty which the captain eagerly accepted. In return, Blair had teasingly demanded the first dance with the new Mrs. Conner-Taggart, something to which both had readily agreed. 

Those recollections brought Jim full circle, his eyes on the dancing couple of Megan Conner-Taggart and Blair Sandburg. In the hall of the church where the wedding had been held, Rhonda had overseen the decorations and the large hall appeared to be more of a cozy living room, complete with a garlanded mantle and burning, cinnamon-scented candles. The cinnamon was not strong, and Jim barely had to dial down his smell. Instead, he stood alone by the mantle, sipping from a cup of hot spiced cider and watching Blair dance. 

Blair moved smoothly across the floor with Megan in his arms. Jim could hear their chatter, her chiding Blair for putting his hair back into a ponytail and then Blair's confession that he'd done it only to make sure she had enough fire in her belly to last through the ceremony without swooning. 

Jim could also hear across the room, Simon and Rhonda chatting about Daryl and how much Simon's young son wanted to be a police officer like his father. Simon admitted that he was proud of Daryl for wanting to follow in his footsteps but worried that he'd waste his life, and Rhonda's admonishing him and asking Simon if he'd thought his own life had been wasted. 

The answer Jim didn't care to listen to, because it only made him consider his own life. //Have I wasted my own life?// he questioned himself. //You're over forty with an Army discharge, a divorce, and a couple of cleared IA investigations on your record, a father you barely speak to and a brother you're just getting to know after thirty years.// He shook his head. The only good things he could come up with about himself were his Sentinel abilities, his job, his friends... and Blair. 

The thought of Blair sent him into a whole new train of thought, most of it centering around his Guide and partner. //There's no fool like an old fool, Chief,// he admonished himself. //He's off limits; just ask all his ex-girlfriends.// He was no stranger to the odd side of life, and as he thought he raised his hand to the small platinum stud in his ear. He'd had his ear re-pierced at the urging of his Guide, and contrary to all good sense he'd ever known, he'd gone along with the puppy-eyed young man and found himself the new owner of a platinum stud in a re-pierced ear. 

The music stopped, and Jim found himself applauding along with everyone else as Blair motioned Joel forward. "And I present to you... Mr. and Mrs. Taggart!" As was the custom as best man, Blair began a short toast. "To Joel and Megan, who were lucky enough to find each other, and to be experiencing the birth of love this close to the celebration of another birth. May you continue to find this happiness, not just throughout the year but the rest of your lives together." Another round of applause followed Blair's toast, and Blair stepped off the dais as the spotlight hit the newlywed couple and they had their first dance as husband and wife. 

* * *

As Blair stepped down, his eyes immediately went and sought out Jim. He found the Sentinel standing alone, leaning against the mantle with a mug of hot, spiced cider sitting beside him as he applauded. As the applause died down, he headed towards his Sentinel, stopping only to get his own spiced cider before joining him. 

* * *

Jim knew the second that Blair decided to approach him. As always, there was a slight shift in Blair's body chemistry as though it were shifting to accomodate Jim. His scent grew slightly softer, his heartbeat deepened, and he sent out what Jim had come to think of as happy-Sentinel vibes, because whenever Blair started emitting them, Jim found himself smiling at his approaching Guide. "Nice toast, Chief." 

"Thanks, man. I wondered how to get that whole Christmas thing worked into the toast without dropping the big name." 

"You did great." He settled in to his normal pattern of absorbing happy-Sentinel vibes as his friend talked. 

"Thanks. Not bad for a guy who barely skated through his bar mitzvah," he giggled. "Me, I mean. Not you." 

"Well, yeah, I figured, seeing as how I'm not Jewish." 

"Right, right. Uh, hey Jim, why are you standing all alone in the middle of a party?" 

"Just seemed like the thing to do so I didn't rain on everybody's parade." 

"What? You not having a good time, man?" 

"I'm having a fine time, Chief." 

"So what's the problem?" Jim didn't answer. "Let me guess. The typical Ellison holiday brooding has set in early, huh?" 

"Sandburg, I don't brood." 

"Please, you brood worse than some old biddy protecting her chicks." 

Jim wrestled with that image a moment and could not come up with anything appropriately scathing, and so let it pass. "Okay, I get a little thoughtful in December. So sue me, Chief." 

Blair gazed at his friend through the dancing light of the candle on the mantle between them,, watching the shadows play over Jim's face. "Thoughtful, right. That's what they're calling it now instead of brooding. I'll have to remember that." Jim's little click of disgust and eye roll did nothing to deter his Guide's cheerful mood. He reached out and took Jim's hand in his own. 

Jim jumped a little at the contact but said nothing. He had not been expecting Blair's touch and it electrified him. His sense dial jumped up of its own accord, as though instinctively seeking the contact that Jim's conscious mind wanted so much to deny. Then, instead of Blair dropping his hand as Jim expected, he held onto it, meeting Jim's eyes through the candle's flame, rubbing the pad of his thumb over Jim's palm. As Blair saw Jim looking at him, a slow, beautiful smile graced his lips as he turned his head to the side and slowly lifted Jim's hand to his mouth, pressing a kiss to the palm just traced by his thumb. His taste and Jim's mingled, and he turned his head back to look at Jim, whose eyes were bright and wide with surprise. "Blair?" he asked, barely a whisper as his breath threatened to extinguish the candle between them. 

"I realized while I was standing up with Joel and listening to their vows that there was only one person in this world to whom my life and heart were linked with to that degree, and I realized that I've been in love with this person ever since I shoved him under a garbage truck." He looked up at Jim. "I can still feel the back of your head against my hand when I pushed you down, and I still remember the look on your face when you realized what I'd done. You couldn't quite decide whether to thank me or chew my ass out. There was confusion in your eyes, and then, when I mentioned the book saying that Sentinels had to have partners... a light came into them then and it's still there to this day, whenever you look at me." Jim was totally speechless as Blair brought out a small package wrapped in bright Christmasy paper. "I was going to wait and put this in your stocking but since tonight I'm officially telling you that you're mine for the rest of both our lives... I'm going to go ahead and give this to you now." Jim's fingers carefully unsealed the tape along the edge and carefully folded the paper back as Blair shifted impatiently. "C'mon, man, _before_ Christmas gets here!" 

Jim looked down at the small white box he'd unwrapped, then took the lid off the box and put it on the bottom as he looked into it. Nestled on the soft white cotton batting was a single silver earring, cut in the shape of a wolf's head. Jim looked up, and Blair tossed his hair back for a moment, and Jim could see the mate glittering in a third hole in Blair's lobe. He carefully cradled the wolf's head in his hand as he removed the platinum stud and replaced it with the wolf, and then put the old stud in the box and the box in his tuxedo pocket. "I love you," Jim said suddenly. It was all he was able to say. 

Blair just nodded softly. "And I love you," he said, blowing out the candle and putting their corner in darkness as he rose on his tiptoes and planted a warm kiss on Jim's lips. "Merry Christmas, big guy." 

The End 

* * *

  
Disclaimer: _The Sentinel_ is owned etc. by Pet Fly, Inc. These pages and the stories on them are not meant to infringe on, nor are they endorsed by, Pet Fly, Inc. and Paramount. 

**Author's Note:**

> Let's be real here. If I owned them, I wouldn't be sitting here writing about it. I'd be watching *them* do this stuff, filming it, and selling it at affordable prices to all interested parties. No Sentinels or Guides were harmed in the making of this story, and they were all cleaned and returned to Petfly upon completion.
> 
> Originally posted in the Many Holiday Tales of the Sentinel edition of My Mongooze Ezines.


End file.
